ACT-34: 31 Reading, 36 Math, 35 Science, 34 English
SAT II: 800 Math II 780 Chem
Unweighted GPA (out of 4.0): 3.93
Senior Year Course Load: A levels predicted AAA in Chemistry, maths and Biology. AS grades AAAA in maths, Chemistry, Biology and further maths. GCSE’s 6A*-A and 1 B(school only offered 7).
Extracurriculars:
Founder of basketball club (2 years)
founder of table football club (arranged large tournament 32+ students)
Leading organizer of charity committee(2 years)
Soccer club (2 years),
Founder of debate club
table tennis club (2 years)
Student council (2 years)
Scout leader
UKIP MP on the student forum(Basically part of online political debate club).
Awards:
Biology Olympiad gold (top 5%),
Senior maths challenge gold (top 10%)
Crest research award gold (70 hours)
High sports leadership award level 3 (100+ hours demonstrated leadership)
200 hour millennium volunteer award (with official stamp of welsh government and signature of the first minister of wales).
Volunteer:
300+ hours of volunteering total.
Volunteered abroad teaching children sports in south africa
Chance me for:
Vanderbilt university
Rice university
The University of Rochester
Lehigh University
Boston University
Bates college
Oberlin(possibly ED)
UCLA
BU and Lehigh accepted
Vanderbilt and Rice: I feel like ECs might be kind of weak. This is just because when you say 2 years I’m assuming junior and senior year, which looks like resume stuffing. Both small reaches, the numbers are definitely there
UCLA: Do you know your UC GPA? OOS is supposed to be hard at UCLA this year, but you’re qualified. I’d say it’s kind of a toss up.
I don’t know enough about the others to say. Also, depending on the extent of your work in South Africa, that could be a huge boost for you. Even if it’s just one trip or two, 300 hours is great, could probably outweigh the lack of consistent ECs.
Overall your EC’s and test scores definitely qualify you for the schools you’re applying too. I just don’t know about your academics simply because I don’t know the scale your using. Other than that your profile is very impressive, most significantly, your awards. The schools on here that are remarkable selective (Rice, Vandy) I’d be a little more skeptical about. The others I’d consider matches and safeties.
First off, it’s so cool that you’re from Wales. I’ve always wanted to travel there (US citizen).
Secondly, what’s your major? I’m assuming it has to do with math or biology?
I can see you being accepted into most of these, perhaps possibly Vandy and UCLA. Good luck!
Nice, I think youre super strong in everything, although the EC’s are kind of all over the place. Here are my predictions. I’d say Vanderbilt and Rice, maybe UCLA, are the only minor reaches.
Vanderbilt university (ED II?)- 60%
Rice university -55%
The University of Rochester-80%
Lehigh University-80%
Boston University-85%
Bates college- 70%
Oberlin- 70%
UCLA(OOS)- 65%
Vandy likes high test scores, so if it’s interesting to you I would go for it. If you like Lehigh you would probably like Bucknell, and it has a better academic reputation. Rice is reachy, but if you think that you would be happy in Houston, go for it. Similarly, Notre Dame looks like a runner, but you should be sure that you would like the environment- it is a tight community, with a very structured program and a clearly Catholic ethos. I am a bit surprised that somebody for whom UKIP is important is looking at Oberlin or Bates- it’s hard to imagine you finding them happy places to be.
I’m sure that somebody has told you to check cost of attendance- some of the schools on your list are pretty pricey.
@collegemom3717 Thanks for the advice. Obviously, I wouldn’t like to attend universities that are too liberal, I mainly chose Oberlin for it’s excellent neuroscience program and bates because I’m more likely to give receive more aid. The cost of attendance on average at these school reaches the $65,000 which is pricey, My parents currently pay a total of around $38,000 for my current schools tuition and costs so I’d expect them to be willing to cover at least say $25,000 to $30,000 or a maximum of around $35,000. If I don’t receive aid I plan to pay the rest through a private loan as I have family members who are also citizens in the us that would co-sign. Hopefully, I do get some aid which would help reduce my potential debt.
Oberlin and Bates are at the high end of liberal, so you might want to re-think those choices. UCLA will not give you any merit aid at all, so I would dump that.
With those financial constraints you will want to revisit your list. The CC community will be all over you for planning on taking on up to $120K ($30K x 4) in debt for undergraduate- especially as grad school seems to be in your plan. If you go PhD it should be funded, if you go MD it will not.
[url=<a href=“https://www.washingtonpost.com/apps/g/page/local/college-grants-for-the-affluent/1526/%5DThis%5B/url”>https://www.washingtonpost.com/apps/g/page/local/college-grants-for-the-affluent/1526/]This[/url] list might be helpful- it summarizes average merit awards. Note that averages can be misleading, but it’s a start.
Your A-levels are really strong, but irl they are going to be more impressed by your ACT, as it is what will help them with showing how strong their admitted student profile is.
@collegemom3717 Thank you for your additional advice and I personally would like to avoid a lot of debt. The issue is a lot of the top state schools and universities don’t offer much merit aid. I can’t simply rule them out because they won’t pay up, I want to attend a school with a good enough reputation to give me great graduate prospects. Tulane university that is on your list seems to give a lot of merit aid, I’d be willing to add it to my list. If you know any other schools that would be a good fit for me please inform me.
@Ali1302, I am all too aware that things in writing can come across with a different tone than was intended, but fyi the talking about getting a uni to “pay up” comes across as entitled. You’ve gone straight from ‘can I get in’ to ‘they should pay up’.
Remember why any university decides to “pay up”: it’s to get something they want, such as students whose test scores will raise their average or with some attribute that they hope will reflect well on the school. As you have noticed, most of the very top schools give little or no merit aid- because they don’t need to. The strongest students already want to come to them.
As a rule of thumb, to get substantial merit aid your profile should be in the top 25% of the admitted students profile for the school.
You say that you are willing to take on substantial debt in order to improve your grad school prospects, but that isn’t necessary. From the private unis that give merit aid on that list, I have known alums from Washington & Lee (quite conservative, btw, and a quite anglophilic tradition), Case Western, Duke, Johns Hopkins, Wesleyan (pretty liberal), University of Richmond, Rice, Davidson, Bucknell (also conservative) who went on to tippy-top grad schools*. All of them will have lots of students of your caliber.
Given that you would be a serious contender for Cambridge (assuming you have the UMS), Oxford, UCL, Imperial and Durham, all of which would cost your parents a fraction of what any of the US unis will cost, I’m also guessing that there is a little pride at work as well. Be sure to separate out those pieces and have a serious conversation with your parents (who may have their own pride pieces as well).
*I have heard great things about many of the other colleges- these are just ones where I know the students personally.
@collegemom3717 Getting merit aid can be hard at a lot of universities especially those that mostly give out need based aid. The issue is applying for need based aid reduces my chances of admission at a lot of these universities. For instance at Wesleyan a applicant that requests no financial aid is admitted at a rate of 22% as opposed to an applicant that does request aid is admitted at a rate of 4%-5%.
I’m mainly considering studying in the states, if I wanted a similar experience to Oxbridge I could apply to Williams college that seems to have adopted the Oxbridge tutorial system pretty well. My parents have no issue mainly because I have family there and they could probably visit every once in a while and keep in touch. I like some of the colleges you’ve listed I’m willing to consider Davidson, Rice, Bucknell and Washington and lee. Duke and Johns Hopkins are major reaches, I don’t want to keep my hopes up that much I think two major reaches(Vanderbilt, Rice) would be enough.
I think you have a really good chance- especially considering your scores, ec’s, etc. not to mention, you’re from wales! I think if you type well-written essays and have good recommendations, you’ll be able to get in all (if not most) of them! Good luck
Bates and Oberlin won’t work for someone who supports UKIP.
Beside those already on your list, look into Washington&Lee, Gettysburg, Hampden Sydney, Clemson, Auburn, perhaps Davidson, Dickinson, Kenyon, Denison, St Olaf, Colgate, most midatlantic flagships if you’re okay with moderate/wide spectrum.
Cut out UCLA since it’s 55K, no financial aid/merit aid.
@MYOS1634 I appreciate the advise but I’m not going to cut out UCLA simply because of a $80,000-$120,000 debt. As long as my graduate prospects are good why should I worry about debt? I’m not simply going to attend the school that offers me the most aid. Academic reputation matters to me aswell as potential opportunities and graduate prospects.
@RichardSuce First of all, I’m already in the UK applying to the U.S., second I plan on attending a U.S. University. I’m also a U.S. Citizen so I don’t get your argument here?
Regarding why you shouldn’t borrow 89-120k… because you’re allowed to borrow 27k over 4 years, which amounts to 31k with interest, the amount a college graduate can repay over ten years.
I doubt Welsh banks will allow you to borrow the rest as an 18year old.
Also,be logical and consistent: you can’t be debt adverse for others, just not for yourself.
Your grad school and job prospects don’t depend on your university’s name , but on your academic performance and internships. ALL colleges mentioned above, except aHmpden Sydney (listed for conservative cred ) are top-notch. Don’t summarily dismiss them - read up about each in your fiske guide, or Princeton review’s colleges, or Insider’s Guide. Select those that match your personality and goals.
Keep in mind that academic reputation as you, as a hs student in Wales, perceive it, may be quite different from how academics or companies perceive a college in the US.
Oh, you should also look into McKenna.
@MYOS1634 There is no maximum amount when it comes to loans, I can get approved for private loans that cover all the remaining costs. I also never expressed that I was debt adverse to others.
A university’s reputation matters, you can go to a no name school have a perfect gpa, graduate with the highest honors and still have bad graduate prospects. When it comes to the top graduate/professional schools and employers reputation matters. Could I attend the University of Phoenix and expect to gain admission to a Harvard PHD program?
Ali:
If you represent UKIP, I assume it’s because you support them, and UKIP is debt-adverse. Hence my comment about being consistent - debt adverse when it helps others, but not when it helps you.
You could of course represent UKIP as a hobby but be a staunch Corbyn supporter, in which case Bates can go back onto your list.
Are you sure banks would grant you a 120K loan?
In the US, those have to be co-signed by parents. Parents who co-sign that much against all advice typically end up in a heap of trouble.
In addition, regardless of parental agreement, this amount of debt is excessive: It means you will not be able to buy a house until your mid40s, that your lifestyle will be pinched for 20 years at least, that you may not get approved for a car loan… There’s no way your salary from UCLA will help you pay that loan better vs. a 27K/4years loan at another college. Your salary and opportunities will not be 4 times higher if you find a bank willing to lend you that much, you take that loan, and attend UCLA.
Your last paragraph is a straw man: all the universities people have listed for you are top-notch. So yes, your odds of attending a Harvard PHD from there are the same as if you attend UCLA. None are “no name schools”. Obviously no one suggested a “for profit” school. In UK terms, everything we listed is equivalent to Russell group. BTW you can’t assume you’ll graduate with the higest honors from most of the universities listed on your thread. Some, like W&L or McKenna, are actually reaches as hard to get into as UCLA (if not harder depending on circumstances).
